Original subtitles

Your symptoms appeared after she left?

I think so.

You weren't getting on well?

We sometimes argued.

Well, your symptoms suggest...

mental dissociation.

Mental dissociation?

Let me explain.

Say you're very attached to someone and you separate.

It may not be a real breakup.

But when your loved one isn't there,

this disorder makes you rather unstable.

Is memory loss one of the symptoms?

What can't you remember?

What she was wearing at the time,

why she left...

That's what I can't remember.

It's a mental blockage.

It's not uncommon.

We'll keep an eye on you.

Actually, I'm also seeing strange things.

I'm afraid something bad has happened to my wife.

WELCOME TO NEW TOWN WHERE DREAMS COME TRUE

DRY CLEANING RECEIPT

HOME PHONE NO.

Back early today?

Still no news?

No.

You know, there's something strange about this place.

Back when there were still workmen on the site

and hardly anyone had moved in yet,

I had a real weird experience.

Who's there?

And that wasn't the only weird thing.

This place must be cursed!

You know what once happened here?

My daughter should be home by now.

I should go up.

Oh, right.

You go ahead.

EUNBIT KINDERGARTEN

CHILD PROTECTION VEHICLE

Message playing.

You have one new message.

...can't take your call...

Say something.

About what?

About what happened.

If I knew that, I wouldn't feel so frustrated.

Are you sure she hasn't called you?

What do you mean?

You think I'm in touch with my sister without telling you?

There was no message.

I told you, she didn't call!

You know...

I can't shake this bad feeling.

I passed a car crash on the way home.

A woman in the car...

had her face smashed.

I have the feeling...

something bad has happened to my wife.

SUJI APARTMENTS

To Suji, please.

Be a good girl now, Eun-ji.

Don't let it get to you.

- Okay, thanks. - Take care.

Hey! Where are you going?

Mister! Mister!

Honey?

HYUNDAI GAS STATION

RESTROOM

Darling...

These puppets are imbued with my life and soul.

When my time comes, they should pass on with me.

Any person who dares to resist or disobey these words

will know disaster and an agonizing death!

- Please, no. I'm scared. - Master.

Master.

- Let go of me! - Master! It's me, Gaan!

- Let go of me! - Master.

I'm scared! Don't hurt me!

Don't be too sad, Nian.

Death comes to all of us.

My sister was too young to die.

What happened, Gaan?

Why did Master Tao send his wife and son out on the boat at night?

I overheard Master Tao

telling his wife to drown the puppets.

Drown the puppets?

Why would he want to get rid of them?

He loved his puppets.

Was he afraid that someone would steal them?

So he'd rather destroy them?

There's a curse on those puppets, Master Tong.

A curse?

Since Master Tao fell ill,

he's often raved about the curse in his sleep.

I took no notice at first,

but then bad things began happening to members of our troupe.

Several people ran away.

So I began to believe in the curse.

You think the curse caused Nuan and Little Dang to drown?

Master Tao knew something bad was coming.

Why else did he want the puppets destroyed?

Maybe he made up the story

so that no one would dare steal his treasured puppets.

Please excuse me, I must go back to look after Master Tao.

Be comforted, Nian.

No.

Master!

Master!

Help!

- Master Tao's house caught fire. - His house is on fire?

Quick!

Hurry!

Quick!

May he rest in peace.

I don't like this.

Nian, don't take what Gaan said too seriously.

I don't believe in the curse.

Then how do you explain what happened?

It was his karma.

Now that it's over, we should leave, shouldn't we?

Please?

Please!

No.

I'm staying.

Bua, don't go in there!

Now my fortunes turn, Tao, you bastard.

No!

What is that?

It's a piece of net, Master.

Are you all right, Master?

I'm fine.

You can go now.

Come here, Gaan.

Have you ever performed Khon, Gaan?

Never, Master.

Master Tao only taught me puppetry.

I was still learning from him when he fell ill.

If you want to learn Khon,

I can teach you.

Really?

What if he dances like a wooden puppet?

That would be embarrassing.

Help. Help me.

Help.

Are you hurt?

Bua.

Where did you get that? Give it to Grandma!

Give it to me now!

Give it to Grandma now!

- Mom, calm down. - Please, no.

- Tell me. What is it? - I'm scared.

- No, please. No! - Mom.

Master, I mean no disrespect,

but please be wary of the curse.

You think it was caused by the curse?

Fine.

Well then...

I'll undo the curse myself.

Now my fortunes turn, Tao, you bastard.

Your puppet is in pieces.

We'll see what the damn curse can do to me.

Bua, no.

No.

Listen up, all of you.

These are new puppets and I'm the one who animates them.

You too will have a fresh start and lead better lives than before.

Now I, Master Tong,

I alone control the spirit and destiny of these new puppets.

May all that is sacred be my witness.

Master? What's wrong?

I don't know.

There's a sudden pain in my leg.

Dad.

Is it true that Gaan is going to handle the hero puppet?

Yes, I've decided.

Why the hell should Gaan come before me?

Stop being foolish.

I only judged by the performance.

What about me? How am I inferior to him?

Like this. You're disrespectful, like the demon Ravana!

Dad...

Am I so much like a demon, Dad?

Good luck to you all.

Im, help me back to the boat.

These puppets are imbued with my life and soul.

When my time comes, they should pass on with me.

Any person who dares to resist or disobey these words

will know disaster and an agonizing death!

My puppet.

No! No!

Come on, Master Tao. You don't scare me.

Die, you accursed thing!

Where the hell are you? Come on.

- You two deserve to die! - ...will know disaster and an agonizing...

Scum of the earth!

Ghosts!

Ghosts!

Help!

Help! Fire!

Help! Fire!

Bua...

No! Don't pull it up.

What are you doing?

Bua, don't.

Bua! No!

Bua.

What is that?

It's a piece of net, Master.

Gaan, you think these puppets are cursed?

Yes, Master.

What is it?

Nothing.

You can go now.

One, two, three.

Young man, I said not to blink on the count of three.

If you can't manage that, let someone else go first.

One, two, three.

So, do you want your picture taken or not?

Why don't you ever answer me?

Where can I find Management?

Anyone in?

I'm here.

I know who you are...

Follow me.

Cheung. Where are you?

Everyone has moved out and then you two move in,

and they're tearing the place down in a month!

A man of my age can't be expected to climb these stairs.

What do you do?

Police officer?

Good, that's impressive.

The toilet's out here.

The cooking area's over there.

Dad.

That's just Mr. Yu. His wife is paralyzed from the waist down.

Cheung.

Dad.

What?

When are you coming home?

After work in the morning.

What's wrong?

There's no toilet.

The toilet is out there.

I'm scared.

Look, you're a boy.

You can't be such a coward.

I told you many times.

You're a boy.

Boys are brave. Don't be scared.

Dad, what if someone keeps staring at me?

Then stare right back at them.

- Who stares at you, anyway? - The little girl who lives opposite.

You're scared of a little girl? Come on, eat up.

Don't you worry.

Your hair is just as childish as you are.

I've told it to stop the split ends, but it just doesn't listen.

Whatever I say, it does the opposite, same as you!

And you know I won't mind, because I love you.

Father and Mother can't wait to see us for Chinese New Year.

Just four more days,

then we can go home.

I'll buy the train tickets tomorrow.

We should get them some gifts too.

Hey, what do you think they'd like to have?

Chocolate.

Will you play with me?

BIG TIME PHOTO STUDIO

Eleven o'clock.

11:00 in the evening?

- Have you seen my son? - No.

You'd better find him quick before it's too late.

Cheung.

Cheung.

Cheung.

Cheung.

Cheung.

Cheung.

Mr. Yu?

My name is Chan, I've just moved in opposite.

Yes?

- What a strong herbal smell! - What do you want?

I can't find my son. Just checking if he's hanging around here.

My wife isn't well. We don't like interlopers.

My son mentions your daughter a lot.

- Maybe he's hanging with your daughter? - I don't have a daughter.

We don't have children.

I'm sorry.

Where's my son?

Where's my son?

On the second day at university,

when Miss Zhang introduced our new classmate,

she called your name and you stood up and shouted "Here."

Everyone burst out laughing.

Miss Zhang said "It's not high school,

you don't need to stand up to answer questions."

And everyone laughed even harder.

You know,

I was so happy that they...

put us in the same study group.

I went outside and danced around like a man possessed.

I held your hand for the first time.

when I learn how to take a pulse.

You look just the same now as you did back then.

Your pulse was racing, your head was bowed low.

You didn't dare look up at me.

I won't let you take my pulse ever again.

I bathe you every day

and you're still embarrassed?

Your wife is dead!

Western medical science would agree with you.

But immersing her in Chinese herb every day

drives out her tumors.

She'll revive when she's well.

Are you insane?

Tumors?

Revive?

You've strangled her!

Look at the bruises on her neck!

Hai'er told me to do so herself.

It's the only way she can be cured.

Hai'er, I had to kill you to cure you.

You must revive.

How could I live without you?

We've managed to get through the worst of it, haven't we?

Soon. Just three more days.

We will be together again.

We're in the same boat.

My son is all I have left.

Please give him back.

He's not here!

I didn't take him.

Then let me go!

Let me go and look for him!

You have to wait three days, until my wife revives.

I can let you go then.

She's revived already!

You're just talking to her!

No need to wait three days.

Let me go now!

You think I'm crazy?

Your asthma is bad. How can you be a policeman?

Stick out your tongue.

Stick it out further.

Exhaustion, bad digestion.

You should avoid greasy and oily food.

Don't eat cabbage, bok choy, bean sprouts,

pears, oranges or mangosteens.

At least not until your remission.

And get more exercise.

Western medicine can harm you.

I'll write you a prescription for this medicine.

Then you can get it yourself.

Take it for three months,

then you can eat whatever you like.

My wife and I studied Chinese medicine together.

We're both qualified doctors now.

But we couldn't heal ourselves.

Is that why you strangled her to death?

She asked me to talk to her everyday.

Her soul will stay in her body if she knows that I'm beside her.

And when her body has healed itself, she'll revive.

When you're healed,

I'll take your pulse every day.

I won't let you leave me again.

If only I'd been more thorough,

I'd have known that you were sick.

I could have treated you earlier.

We could have avoided these three painful years.

We wouldn't have needed to abort our child.

This painful time is almost over.

When I'm well, we can have another child.

You need to pee?

I tried to find your son,

but no one's seen him anywhere.

You really didn't take him?

Why didn't you take better care of him to begin with?

I'm sorry.

You must have problems yourself, otherwise you wouldn't have moved in here.

Where's your wife?

You're a good man.

Why don't you just let me go?

I won't give you any trouble.

I just want to find my boy.

Never mind.

If you won't let me go,

will you at least buy me some beer?

I can't live without beer.

Okay?

You're from mainland China?

Yes, Changsha.

You came all this way and have to face all this.

Any regrets?

My wife will revive tomorrow.

We'll move home and start afresh.

I've already bought our train tickets.

Will she really revive tomorrow?

Definitely.

How long does she have to sleep?

- Until tomorrow, I told you! - No, I mean,

how long does she need to sleep?

Three years.

And you've talked to her every day for three years?

Has she ever answered you?

Not only does she answer me,

she reacts very strongly.

Once I annoyed her and she sulked for a whole week.

She wouldn't let me open her eyes,

- kept shedding hair... - You're a liar!

- A liar? - You said you didn't see my son?

That's right. I hadn't seen your son.

I asked your wife about it while you were out buying the beer.

She told me she saw you kidnap him!

You're mad!

You're lying!

My wife can't talk.

- How could she tell you anything? - Exactly.

Your wife is dead.

How could she talk?

Stop lying to yourself!

You're mad!

Hai'er, this is the last bath I'll give you.

When you revive tomorrow,

you'll have to bathe yourself.

You won't need me to help you anymore, will you?

I'll get you a pretty dress to wear.

What color would you like?

Tell me, what color would you like?

Can you hear me?

You must revive, please.

Hai'er.

Hai'er.

Hai'er.

Who are you?

What do you want?

Have you seen your neighbor Chan Kwok-Wai ?

He said he was going to gamble in Macau.

I see.

Hai'er, hurry now. You have to revive.

You promised you'd revive today!

Hai'er, can you hear me?

Didn't you say you'd revive today? Why don't you?

You remember the second day at university, Miss Zhang called your name and you

stood up and shouted, "Here."

Everyone in class burst out laughing!

Hai'er,

I can feel your body getting warm.

I can let you go now. My wife's body is getting warm.

You can go look for your son now.

Thank you.

My colleagues know I never gamble.

- Arrest him! - Arrest him!

- Take him! - Let me go!

- I'm not crazy! - Hurry.

- Go! - Tell them! Please!

- Quick! - I'm a good man!

Please tell them to let me go.

Let me go.

Please!

Hurry.

Take him.

Hurry.

Get him.

Get back here!

The woman has been dead for at least two years.

It's strange that her skin, and even her tongue haven't lost their elasticity.

Even her hair and nails are still growing

The deceased couple came to me three years ago for a pregnancy checkup.

But we found out that the woman had liver cancer.

I advised them to abort the baby, but the man was strongly against it.

He said he didn't trust Western medicine.

Actually, the man himself was also treated by me

for liver cancer six years ago.

He had chemotherapy once and went missing afterwards.

When I saw him again with his wife that day,

he said that Chinese medicine had cured him.

They say a weak woman is luckier

than a strong, independent woman.

And I was very lucky indeed because I had you to rely on.

In the three years I had been without you,

I was facing everything by myself.

Everyone thought I was mad.

Slowly,

I've learned to become strong and independent.

But I'm not lucky anymore.

Now we'll be apart for another three years.

If I could choose,

I'd prefer that I lived and you died.

For the dead one,

it's just like being in a long sleep.

For the living one,

it's a daily nightmare.

Maybe God is testing

our commitment to each other.

That's why we have the same illness and the same pain.

I'll go to sleep soon.

Please let my soul remain in my body.

I promise...

I'll be just as you are.

Resurrected.